Review of Radio Frequency Emission from Hypervelocity Impact Plasmas

Abstract

Hypervelocity impacts are accompanied by electromagnetic emissions originating from the impact-induced plasma. Most studies in the past have been devoted to analyzing and interpreting spectra in the visible regime. Only little effort has been spent on understanding emissions in the radio frequency spectrum and giving explanations of their origins from microscale processes. This publication compiles and reviews most relevant processes that are accompanied by radio frequency emissions and ranks them in terms of their dominance in hypervelocity impact plasmas.